You want to know about Dana Hunter, then, do you? I'm a science blogger, SF writer, compleat geology addict, Gnu Atheist, and owner of a - excuse me, owned by a homicidal felid. I'm the author of Really Terrible Bible Stories vol. I: Genesis. I loves me some Doctor Who and Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers. Sums me up. I'm a Midwest-born Southwesterner transplanted to the Pacific Northwest, which should explain some personality quirks, the tendency to sprinkle Spanish around, and why I'll subject you to some real jawbreakers in the place names department. I'm delighted to be your cantinera! Join me for una tequila. And feel free to follow @dhunterauthor on Twitter. Salud!

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EVENTS

Silly Rhododendron. Don’t You Know It’s Winter?

Yay, we survived the current apocalypse! Woo! I am just astounded beyond words, reely. In celebration, I’m being completely lazy and refuse to turn on the computer. Good thing I had some winter-themed rhodies in drafts, then right?

I took a walk two Saturdays ago to break in my nifty new shoes. I took a picture of them so we can all remember them when: this is the pair that will be maimed, mangled, muddied, and otherwise modified during the summer adventuring season.

Mah new adventuring shoes

I know some of you will yell at me for not getting proper hiking boots. I can’t bloody walk in hiking boots. Also, some of the trails round here encourage you not to wear hiking boots anyway, because they’re apparently more destructive than sneakers. Don’t worry about my ankles. I’d turn them worse in hiking boots – I’ve done it before. Also, I’d break my nose: when my ankles are confined, I get unstable on my pins. Don’t ask me why, because I don’t know. It’s not an issue for city walking, but when I’m trying to scramble over rocks, it’s bad.

Anyway, my feet aren’t important. They’re just what forced me out of the house. I went bouncing down the road (the tread on these makes me feel like I’m all springy) and stomped around North Creek for a bit getting used to them. Columbia, it turns out, makes good shoes. They’re brand-new, yet didn’t give me ferocious blisters. They didn’t even rub much. And they stop on a dime. I know this because I stopped dead when I noticed a rhodie blooming.

A Rhodie in Winter

I’ve never ever seen a rhodie blooming this late. Then again, I don’t typically go traipsing round Seattle in the winter. I’m a complete wuss. I also have ten trillion tons of research to accomplish before summer so that I can continue to pump out blog posts whilst adventuring. But you know, cabin fever and new shoes, and the sun came out for thirty seconds, and I was all like, “Yay let’s go outside!!!!!”

And this rhodie’s all, “Yay let’s bloom even though it’s a ridiculous time of the year for it!”

Beautiful blooms

You may notice they’re covered in water. That’s because it’s been raining. All. The. Time. Also, it’s definitely colder than a sled dog’s arsehole, although we haven’t definitively established that temperature. It was cold enough to make my ears ache and my thighs go numb. I’m a bloody wuss, people, I admit it. And standing round photographing a rather ambitious rhodie didn’t help matters.

But gotta love the results.

Sweetest Bud

How lovely is that? Here’s the full version, because I can’t decide which I like best.

Sweetest Bud II

So there were all these flowers, nestled among the greenery, and if my ears hadn’t been ready to fall off and my thigh muscles MIA, I could’ve believed it was an overcast but lovely spring day. It’s nice of these late-bloomers to give us this spring reprise.

Pretend it’s spring. Hope it doesn’t snow.

I found you some fantastic fungi, too, and you shall have it in the not-too-distant future. This is why I love the Pacific Northwest. I’m always finding lovely things, and although I’m a wuss, I can survive no matter the season. Then I can come back and share lovely things with you. That, my darlings, is part of what makes life so delightful.

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Comments

I have intermittent internet because I’m ‘working’. :) Actually I’m working but I couldn’t resist the Internet, and see, it was worth it, for your rhodondendrons! The photos are awesome, and I think I like the wide-angle version best. I think, because they’re both gorgeous!

Ooh, there is a difference. My high-top sneakers were loose and thin and bendable; my thick-leather hiking boots were like putting my foot into a cast-iron mould: did not move. Then again, they were from the good old days of hiking boots (dad’s old hiking boots from Germany), when boots were boots and high-tops were circus tents. :) They were the ugliest boots I ever had and I loved them; still trying to get someone to send them over for me from Canada, but they’re also heavy and non-compressible, which poses a bit of an issue when flying. Ah well. In the meantime, a good sneaker works fine! :)

Lovely, lovely pics. Rhodies are one of my favorite flowers, but it gets a bit too warm and much too dry in the summer for them where I live. But I still have a rose or two blooming…

I can turn an ankle with trivial ease when hiking off-trail, ensuring that the next several days will be wasted resting and icing it. So while I have a trusty pair of “light hikers” for trail-walking, I keep a wonderful pair of ankle-locking boots around for scrambling over rocks and such. Only one problem: I can’t drive in the things.